The present invention relates generally to a coking oven, and more particularly to a coking oven construction provided with means for handling noxious gases which escape from an opening of such an oven.
Conventional coking ovens, which are usually arranged in batteries of several oven chambers, are of the horizontal-chamber type, wherein an opening closed by a door is formed in an upright side wall of the oven. These doors must be removable to gain access to the oven, and the opening is bounded by a seat on which the door is intended to be seated so tightly that no noxious gases can escape. It is well known that the gases which escape, particularly during the filling of the oven with additional combustible material and during the first third of the coking cycle, frequently contain carcinogenic substances and theoretically should not be allowed to be admitted into the atmosphere, at least not without first having undergone a scrubbing operation in which these substances are removed. Unfortunately, all of the many attempts which have been made to eliminate this major source of pollution associated with coking ovens -- which is simultaneously the last one, since others of a less serious nature have been overcome already -- have been without really satisfactory results. Constant cleaning of the seats on the door and the opening, constant replacement of doorframes and seats, of sealing elements on the door, and even of the door itself have not been able to eliminate the escape of such noxious gases at least at some times during the coking cycle.